By Emily Scarvie
(PORTLAND, Ore.) Hello Portlanders! It's Thursday, Oct. 21 - Here's your daily round up of all the news happening in the City of Roses.
1. City of Portland releases names, ID numbers of protest cops after judge's ruling
On Monday, a nine-month legal battle between a lawyer and the city of Portland came to a close with the release of the previously concealed names of officers involved in the response to social justice protests last year, as ordered by a judge. Portland police officers began wearing tape with six-digit personnel numbers instead of their names and badge numbers during the protests in June 2020, citing safety and privacy concerns. According to court documents, some officers wore two-digit numbers specific to their team and demonstrators used those numbers to identify officers they considered to be using excessive force.
In February, lawyer Alan Kessler filed a lawsuit against the city of Portland after his public records request for a list of officer names and their numbers was denied. City records officials alleged that there was a miscommunication and they thought Kessler was asking for the six-digit personnel numbers of officers.
In his ruling for the city to release the records, U.S. Circuit Judge Pro Tempore Terence Thatcher wrote, “The City surely knew what numbers its officers were wearing during the demonstrations. At least some of them were wearing Rapid Response Team numbers. The City hid that fact from Kessler.” On Oct. 11, Thatcher gave the city until Monday to release the Rapid Response Team numbers to the lawyer.
“I thought it was important for the public to know who these bad actors were… It should have been a simple thing. Turns out, we now know that they had a list they could have just handed over. Instead they played a game,” Kessler told The Oregonian.
2. Salmonella outbreak linked to onions impacts Oregon, 37 other states
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that 37 states, including Oregon, have been impacted by a salmonella outbreak caused by onions. According to officials, 652 people have become sick and of those people, 129 have gone to the hospital. There were two reported cases in Oregon. No deaths have been reported as a result of the outbreak.
The onions responsible are red, white and yellow onions distributed by ProSource Inc. and imported from Chihuahua, Mexico. The CDC recommends getting rid of these onions and washing any surfaces they may have come into contact with, as well as discarding any onions without labels.
For more information on the outbreak, click here.
3. Portland International Airport offers look at construction of giant new wooden roof
On Wednesday, airport officials showed off the fabrication yard where Portland International Airport’s new 392,000 square-foot wooden roof is being built. According to designers, the roof will emulate the region’s forests and rivers and utilize natural light by filtering it through the wooden beams. Despite the new additions, officials said the carpet will remain, as not to erase the existing PDX experience.
The roof and other upgrades are all part of the airport’s five-year $2 billion project. The roof is being built off-site because it would’ve caused major delays at the airport had it been built on the property. When it’s completed, each of the 20 roof modules will be taken across the airfield, brought up to the roof and put into place. The process of securing the roof modules is expected to begin in mid-2022. The whole project is expected to be done in 2025.
4. Portland Garment Factory gets new building six months after arson
After arson destroyed the Portland Garment Factory six months ago, the factory has relocated to Southeast 97th Avenue between Stark and Burnside, in a bigger, updated building. After the fire gutted the old location, owner Britt Howard received nearly $125,000 in community donations.
“Our new space is amazing and dreamy,” Howard told KGW. “We didn’t forget about how everyone showed up.”
Howard said the new factory has solar panels and multiple floors for quieter work spaces for her employees. She said she hopes to be back open for business in the next month and is especially grateful to once again have a space for her employees to collaborate and be creative.
“We can’t wait to host people in our new space and be able to say thank you in person,” she said.
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